Winter Olympics

[cryptique]

Go.

[bleedorange]

I'm pumped. I've always loved the Winter Olympics.

[bjorn_skurj]

Me too, much more than the other one. When is the women's curling?

[IATTBYB]

Maybe it is just me, but NBC has ruined the Olympics for me. The reliance on idiotic puff pieces and tape delayed coverage just pisses me off. Hell, these Games are in a location where NBC could have shown live coverage of the events this afternoon, but everything was taped. And the ski-jump announcer who insisted on bringing up the Harry Potter resembalance of the Gold Medal Winner at every opportunity just showed that the jackass didn't know anything about the sport . . . the dude is 8 years older now and is a man for God's sake, show him some respect as a 3 time Olympic Champion.

 

The next two weeks are going to be tough, I love the sports and competition, I just can't stand NBC's awful coverage.

[Dude]

Some guy died, and stuff.

 

Between the luge accident and one of the spires for the Olympic Cauldron not coming up for a painful, awkward ten minutes while Gretsky and Nash stood there with painful, forced smiles, before they finally decided to just go with the three spires, I'm officially branding this Olympics as Glitchy.

[embiggen]

yeah, the luge accident during practice is so haunting, and not a good way to start things off. I'm amazed at what people put themselves through.

[stagerug]

I think they look cold. And sweaty.

[cryptique]

Maybe it is just me, but NBC has ruined the Olympics for me. The reliance on idiotic puff pieces and tape delayed coverage just pisses me off. Hell, these Games are in a location where NBC could have shown live coverage of the events this afternoon, but everything was taped. And the ski-jump announcer who insisted on bringing up the Harry Potter resembalance of the Gold Medal Winner at every opportunity just showed that the jackass didn't know anything about the sport . . . the dude is 8 years older now and is a man for God's sake, show him some respect as a 3 time Olympic Champion.

 

The next two weeks are going to be tough, I love the sports and competition, I just can't stand NBC's awful coverage.

I hate what NBC has done in past years too, but so far I would note:

 

1. Much of what I watched this afternoon was live. Long-track speed-skating, for example.

 

2. So far I've seen VERY little idiotic puff. Perhaps we're not to that part of the games yet, but they seem to have minimized this crap, at least for today's events.

[GtrPlyr]

Exciting finish to the women's moguls, even if Jenn Heil came in 2nd.

[bleedorange]

The women's moguls were exciting. And I had forgotten just how exhilarating short track is. My heart was pounding during each race.

[Moss]

That short track speed skating is tense. How they all don't tangle up and fall in every race is beyond me.

[uncool2pillow]

Loved watching those S. Koreans take each other out to let Ohno and the other American get medals.

[Sir Stewart]

Exciting finish to the women's moguls, even if Jenn Heil came in 2nd.

 

!

[IATTBYB]

I hate what NBC has done in past years too, but so far I would note:

 

1. Much of what I watched this afternoon was live. Long-track speed-skating, for example.

 

2. So far I've seen VERY little idiotic puff. Perhaps we're not to that part of the games yet, but they seem to have minimized this crap, at least for today's events.

The 5k long track and the semifinals and finals of the short track were live, but the majority of the coverage is on a tape delay. Take the first round of the ladies moguls last night as an example. . . 27 skiiers down to 20, and all they showed were the United States and Canadian athletes. You wouldn't have known that Japanese, Russian, and other athletes made the final round until they showed a graphic at the end of the round, and lo and behold, a Japanese skiier was in the top 5 and in medal contention. The luge was also tape delayed.

 

As far as puff pieces, they will be coming, but yesterday there were so many idiotic pre-taped video clips and inane commentary by announcers who have no idea what they are talking about because they are covering a sport for the first time since the last Olympics that I include as puff pieces that drive me crazy. And not to offend any of my friends from North of the Border, but would some Canadian finally win a Gold medal so we don't have to hear announcers drive the point that Canadians did not win a gold at the Montreal or Calgary games already?

 

Enough of my complaining, the short track was exciting, watching the ladies moguls made my knees hurt just sitting on the couch, I felt sorry for that poor Slovakian goalie even though she made 40+ saves in an 18-0 loss to the Canadian women, and I would love to learn how to ski jump.

[bleedorange]

The 5k long track and the semifinals and finals of the short track were live, but the majority of the coverage is on a tape delay. Take the first round of the ladies moguls last night as an example. . . 27 skiiers down to 20, and all they showed were the United States and Canadian athletes. You wouldn't have known that Japanese, Russian, and other athletes made the final round until they showed a graphic at the end of the round, and lo and behold, a Japanese skiier was in the top 5 and in medal contention. The luge was also tape delayed.

 

As far as puff pieces, they will be coming, but yesterday there were so many idiotic pre-taped video clips and inane commentary by announcers who have no idea what they are talking about because they are covering a sport for the first time since the last Olympics that I include as puff pieces that drive me crazy. And not to offend any of my friends from North of the Border, but would some Canadian finally win a Gold medal so we don't have to hear announcers drive the point that Canadians did not win a gold at the Montreal or Calgary games already?

 

Enough of my complaining, the short track was exciting, watching the ladies moguls made my knees hurt just sitting on the couch, I felt sorry for that poor Slovakian goalie even though she made 40+ saves in an 18-0 loss to the Canadian women, and I would love to learn how to ski jump.

 

They showed nearly all of the final round of the women's moguls...probably around 13-14 of the final 20, including all of those in the top 10. They showed all the main contenders in the luge's first two runs. A lot of these events are probably going on around the same time. Tape delay is a necessity, but it doesn't ruin any of the coverage.

 

EDIT: I'd also like to add that I rather enjoy all the "puff pieces." It's nice getting to know these athletes, if only through a five-minute story.

[Dreamin']

And not to offend any of my friends from North of the Border, but would some Canadian finally win a Gold medal so we don't have to hear announcers drive the point that Canadians did not win a gold at the Montreal or Calgary games already?

More than happy to oblige.

Gold!

[GtrPlyr]

And not to offend any of my friends from North of the Border, but would some Canadian finally win a Gold medal so we don't have to hear announcers drive the point that Canadians did not win a gold at the Montreal or Calgary games already?

I was finding the whole Gold Medal at home talk annoying too, and I'm Canadian. Thank goodness they can now shut the f up about this.

 

Canada has won 40 Gold medals at Winter Olympics so this shouldn't have been such a big story .

[IATTBYB]

I was finding the whole Gold Medal at home talk annoying too, and I'm Canadian. Thank goodness they can now shut the f up about this.

 

Canada has won 40 Gold medals at Winter Olympics so this shouldn't have been such a big story .

Did CBC play that angle up as well or was this merely an annoying NBC bullet point? Anyway, nice to see that guy win the gold in the moguls, his aerials were sick!

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

A really unattractive side to sports is rearing its head in Vancouver. The whole affair has really soured me on these games. I won'tgo as far to say that the COC is culpable in Kumaritashvili's death, but there are some very disturbing aspects to this tragedy.

 

Luger who died told father he was terrified of Whistler track

 

The day before he died, luger Nodar Kumaritashvili spoke to his father by phone and said he was terrified of the track at the Whistler Sliding Center.

 

David Kumaritashvili gave an interview Sunday outside his house in the Georgian mountain town of Bakuriani, recounting one of the last conversations he had with his 21-year-old son. The Wall Street Journal reports:

 

"He called me before the Olympics, three days ago, and he said, 'Dad, I'm scared of one of the turns.'

 

"I said, 'Put your legs down on the ice to slow down,' but he said if he started the course he would finish it. ... He was brave."

 

Nodar Kumaritashvili also spoke with his parents minutes before his fateful slide, telling them he planned to make them proud, according to The Globe and Mail.

 

Since his death, many people have debated whether the track was too fast or the relatively inexperienced luger was out of his element. A number of Olympic lugers think the track was fine. They fault Kumaritashvili – a sentiment shared by luging officials who deemed the track safe (even while hypocritically lowering the starting location and adding pads to the metal beams that caused the death).

 

Germany's Natalie Geisenberger, who won a race at Whistler last year, said the women's event has turned into a kids race, a startlingly insensitive remark given the tragedy of Friday:

 

I'm not happy about the new start.

 

It’s not a woman’s start, it’s a kinder (German for children’s) start. The rest of the track is OK, but it's not as fast as from the proper start. It's the same for all the athletes, but I don't like it. I felt very good, but now because of the new start it's not fun.

 

Canadian Regan Lauscher complained that the lowered start means her nation's home-track advantage is "basically gone." Given that some have said Canada's resistance to allow other countries to train at the Whistler track played a role in Kumaritashvili's death, that comment beats out even Geisenberger's for insensitivity. Maybe Lauscher is taking cues from her coach, Wolfgang Staudinger, who said that "exotic sliders" are the reasons luge accidents happen.

[GtrPlyr]

Did CBC play that angle up as well or was this merely an annoying NBC bullet point? Anyway, nice to see that guy win the gold in the moguls, his aerials were sick!

I've been watching both NBC and CTV coverage--CBC didn't get the Olympics this time around--and both talked quite incessantly about the lack of Gold at home. I think that story angle was all about building excitement and hype for the Olympics because frankly it wasn't that big an issue for Canadians, at least the ones I've talked to.

[moxiebean]

SI's logo for curling looks like some sort of metal detecting/skydiving hybrid sport:

 

[Guest Speed Racer]

With an homage to hip-hop - surely I can't be the only one who sees a backwards cap on that head, no?

[moxiebean]

I believe you are correct - it matches up with the left-hand pantomime scratching.

[Good Old Neon]

SI's logo for curling looks like some sort of metal detecting/skydiving hybrid sport:

 

 

I see some sort of hybrid creature with a human head impaled on what has to be some sort of defensive device used to stave off a raccoohuman attack.

[bleedorange]

Great night tonight. I'm moved with each emotional interview and medals ceremony...I can only imagine the emotions that these athletes are experiencing. Lindsey Vonn brought tears to my eyes and Shaun White was just absolutely incredible.